Cruz: Obama and Reid Willing to Risk Economic Default

Sen. Ted Cruz, the newly elected Republican from Texas, said Sunday he will not risk a default of the U.S. economy while President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appear willing to do so.

Cruz said on “Fox News Sunday” that Obama, in his most-recent public remarks, is trying to scare Americans by raising “this specter of a financial apocalypse.”

“If we can get GDP growth up to 3, 4, 5 percent that will be dramatically more revenue to pay off the deficit and debt, but the way to do it is through pro-growth policies not new and additional taxes,” he said.

Cruz said he will not vote for Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense because the former Nebraska senator “has not been a friend to Israel” and “has consistently advocated weakness with respect to our enemies.”

“If Hagel is nominated, it is very difficult to imagine the circumstance in which I could support his confirmation,” Cruz said. “I do think it is interesting that the president seems hell-bent on nominating him despite the fact that a number of prominent Republicans have criticized him, and the Democratic Senators have been surprisingly silent on it.”

On the topic of gun control, Cruz said politicians are trying to exploit the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December to curtail Second-Amendment rights.

“I do not support their gun-control agenda,” he said. “No 1, it’s unconstitutional.”